Tasty Christmas Bites: Molasses Spice Cookies

By Beth V

It’s only fitting that the final recipe in the Christmas Bites series is for a delicious cookie. This is one of the most delicious cookie recipes ever. I’ve made them for the past several years. They do not even contain an ounce of chocolate. They do contain a very odd-sounding ingredient, for a cookie.

Black pepper. Wait, black pepper cookies don’t sound quite as appealing as chocolate, do they? Well, black pepper is just one of the many ingredients that make for the very complex collection of flavors in these Molasses Spice cookies.  These are big, flavorful cookies that really do taste amazing. They are a little crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and spicy with a teeny bit of heat from the black pepper. They are almost like a big, soft gingersnap. These are SO good that it is bad for me to make them because I feel compelled to eat them. I sacrificed for my faithful blog readers. I promise more waist-line friendly recipes will be coming in the New Year!

Start by combining flour, baking soda, and your spices-cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, pepper and salt. Whisk them together and set this aside. This already smells wonderful.

The next step requires separating an egg yolk from the white. Here is a very straight-forward video that explains the simplest way to do this.

Now, combine softened butter with dark brown sugar and some white sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and some vanilla extract until combined. Now, pour in your molasses.  Scrape down the bowl throughout this process to ensure that everything gets mixed well.

Now, reduce the mixer to low and add the spicy flour mixture, a little at a time, until combined. Give everything a final stir with a silicone spatula to make sure it is well-combined.

Using damp hands, roll 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball (I mentioned these are large cookies, didn‘t I?), then roll in a dish of sugar to coat well. This is a step that your kids will really enjoy helping with. Kind of like play-dough. I made this dough the night before and refrigerated it, then allowed it to come to room temperature before forming the balls. I found the dough to be less sticky as a result. It works fine without this extra step, too, there will just be a bit more dough sticking to your hands.

Place the dough balls at least 2 inches apart because they spread quite a bit. I could only fit six on my cookie sheet. I would recommend erring in the direction of further apart than too close together to prevent them from fusing together. I used a silicone baking mat, but you can use parchment or just a plain, ungreased baking pan. If you are making lots of cookies, it is nice to just be able to pull the parchment quickly onto a cooling rack and refill the pan with dough, but it certainly is not required.

Bake these at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. They should be set and beginning to brown on the edges, but still be soft and puffy in the middle. Delicious-looking cracks will form on the surface of the cookie. The dough in the middle of the cracks should still look a little under-done. Place the pan on a cooling rack and allow them to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. The residual heat finishes cooking them while keeping them from getting too crispy. Do not rush this step. The end result is just perfect.

I baked some of these today and then, with the help of my boys, formed the rest into balls, rolled them in sugar and placed them in a baking pan in the freezer. Once these are firm, I will transfer them to a freezer bag until I am ready to bake them for a Christmas dessert we will be attending later this week. These frozen balls of dough will be cooked  the same way, simply adding a bit of cooking time (12 to 17 minutes per batch).  I love that these are made and in the freezer and can be freshly baked as needed.

This is  truly a gourmet-tasting cookie. The flavors are complex, the texture is perfect, yet the ingredients are pretty simple. My husband is always astounded when a cookie can taste this good without containing chocolate. Try them and enjoy!

Molasses Spice Cookies
From America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book (my favorite series of cookbooks ever!)

½ cup, plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons butter, softened

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup molasses

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, adjusting oven rack to middle position. Place ½ cup of the granulated sugar into a shallow dish for rolling. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, spices, salt and pepper.

2.  In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar and remaining 1/3 cup white sugar together until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes at medium speed. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until combined, then add the molasses, beating until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Give a stir with a silicone spatula. The dough will be soft.

4. Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls with damp hands, then roll in the sugar to coat well. Lay the balls on the prepared baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart.

5. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set and beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. The cookies should still look raw between the cracks and seem a bit underdone.

6. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then serve or transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely.

7. The dough can be wrapped tightly and placed in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or the dough can be portioned into balls and rolled in sugar, then frozen until firm and transferred to a large freezer bag. To bake, arrange the frozen cookies on a baking sheet and bake as directed, increasing baking time to 12 to 17 minutes.

Merry Christmas! I hope you can enjoy these with ones you love.

Coming up next week, a yummy recipe for using leftover Christmas ham.

Beth is a stay-at-home mom of three wonderfully active children ages 6, 3 and almost 1. She is married to Jason (who also writes for us here at MAD21) and spends her days teaching, changing diapers, sweeping up Cheerios, keeping peace among the kids, and whipping out gourmet meals on the side.